1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a spinning reel for fishing, and more particularly to a long stroke spinning reel in which a tubular traverse cam shaft is coaxially inserted into the shaft of a spool to move the spool reciprocatably.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The spinning reel for fishing generally includes a spool for winding a fishing line and a rotor rotatable relative to the spool for winding the fishing line onto the spool.
When the fishing line is paid out from the spool, the spool remains still or is rotated relative to the rotor. In particular, during the cast, because the fishing line is smoothly paid out from the spool without entangling and suffering from the casting resistance, the casting distance of the fishing line can be increased. In order to achieve this, the conventional spinning reel includes a bail arm for guiding the fishing line to be evenly distributed across the spool, and a mechanism for reciprocating the spool in a longitudinal direction, when the spool is rotated. A traverse cam mechanism is known as the most preferable reciprocating mechanism.
A typical conventional spinning reel incorporating such a traverse cam mechanism is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a pinion 6 is rotated by the drive gear (not shown) engaged with a handle. The pinion 6 forms a tubular pinion shaft in cooperation with a shank portion 6a protruding forwardly through the front opening of a reel body 10, in which a rotor 1 is fixed to the shank portion 6a rotatable with the pinion shaft (see FIGS. 2A to 2C).
The traverse cam shaft 20 is rotatably supported to the reel body 10 in parallel with the pinion shaft and is rotated with the pinion 6 via a helical gear 22.
In the back of the traverse cam shaft 20, an X-shaped worm gear 21 is disposed, and the cam portion 3c of a pawl 3b meshes with the worm gear 21, so that the pawl 3b is reciprocated in parallel with the traverse cam shaft 20 by rotation of the cam shaft 20.
A spool shaft 4, to which a spool (not shown) is inserted from the front and is reciprocatably secured, penetrates longitudinally through the pinion shaft and is reciprocatably supported on the pinion shaft. The spool shaft 4 engages the pawl 3b through a slider 3 to reciprocate with the pawl 3b which is reciprocated along traverse grooves by rotation of the worm gear 21, as can be seen in FIG. 1B.
With the construction described above, when the fishing line is retrieved, the line is guided by the bail arm secured to the rotor 1 and is wound onto the spool 8 which is reciprocated by the rotating rotor to evenly wind the line onto a winding portion 8d.
In case of the separate worm shaft 20 described above, however, the slider 3 must be integral with a worm slide portion 3e for guiding the reciprocation of the slider 3. Also, it is necessary to have the securing means such as a screw 3a for securing the slider 3 to the spool shaft 4 or to mount snap rings, which is not shown, on the spool shaft between the front and back of the slider 3 in order to rotate the spool shaft 4 relative to the slider 3. Also, after the pawl 3b is inserted into a pawl inserting hole 3d, a pawl cap 3f which supports the rear end of the pawl 3b is fixed to the slider 3 so that the pawl cam portion 3c meshes with the worm gear 21. Accordingly, besides transmission parts comprising the helical gear 22 or the spur gears 23 and 24, the number of other components increases, thereby complicating assemblage thereof.
Also, because the transmission mechanism has numerous components, precision degree is required so that the worm gear 21 meshes smoothly with the pawl 3b. And, there are additional problems such as the worm gear 21 made of a brass material is plated with chrome in order to easy the machining work and to enhance the wear resistance.
Besides, in the separate traverse cam mechanism, because the slider 3 can not be reciprocated by rotation of the spool, the fishing line is paid out at several angles from the winding portion of the spool 8, with the spool 8 remaining still, during the cast. When the fishing line is wound at a large angle, the fishing line is continuously snarled in one direction on the line guiding roller 9a of the bail arm and then is easily entangled, as well as the fishing line, when being paid out, suffers from the casting resistance.
In order to solve the above problems, several methods have been proposed, in that U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,416,428 (Nov. 22, 1983) and 4,618,107 (Oct. 21, 1986), and Korean Utility Model No. 89-8646 (Nov. 30, 1989) disclose a worm shaft formed with a worm gear, and the spinning reel of front drag type disclosed in Korean Utility Model No. 89-8646 is shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D.
Referring to FIGS. 2A to 2D, it will be understood that the rotor portion of the spool shaft 4 is formed with a worm gear 4a which meshes with a pawl 5a, and the pawl 5a is secured to a rotor 1 through a guide 5.
By the rotation of a handle 11, a drive gear 2 mounted on a reel body 10 and a pinion 6 which meshes with the drive gear 2 are rotated, and the rotating force of the pinion 6 is transferred to the rotor 1 secured to the shank portion 6a of a pinion shaft. At that time, the fishing line is guided by a bail arm 9 and a line guiding roller 9a which are secured to the rotor 1 and is wound onto the winding portion 8a of the spool 8.
Also, the worm gear 4a meshed with the cam portion of the pawl 5a functions as a traverse cam by rotation of the rotor 1 and the pawl 5a, such that a slider 3 and the spool shaft 4 are guided by a guiding rail 7 and reciprocate. Accordingly, when being retrieved, the fishing line is evenly wound onto the winding portion 8a of the spool 8. Therefore, in case of the spool shaft 4 being formed integrally with the worm gear 4a, it significantly reduces the number of components in contrast to the separate construction shown in FIG. 1A.
In such a spinning reel of front drag type, however, when the fishing line is paid out from the spool, because the spool 8 remains still, the problems of the line being snarled and suffering from the casting and retrieving resistance have not yet been solved. Also, the length of the worm gear 4a can be extended, without altering the whole dimension of the reel by forming the worm gear 4a on the spool shaft 4. As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, however, the guide 5 is secured to the spool side of the rotor 1, i.e., the front of the rotor, and a key 4b and a key groove 8b for transferring the rotation force to the intermediate between the spool shaft 4 and the spool 8 are formed on the rotor 1 of the spool 8, i.e., the back of the rotor, so that when the spool 8 moves forwardly the large portion of the worm 4a is protruded in the forward of the shank portion 6a of the pinion shaft 6a. Accordingly, the spool shaft 4 may be easily destroyed at the weak pawl portion 5a of the worm gear 4a by the torsion load due to rotation of the spool shaft and the respective bending load which acts in the direction of an arrow Y on the spool shaft 4 by the fishing line. Meanwhile, because the bending or torsion deformation is caused on the spool shaft 4, the above traverse cam may not operate properly.
Accordingly, the length of the worm gear 4a must be shortened and also the diameter of the spool shaft 4 must be enlarged. With the arrangement described above, one problem occurs that the whole dimension of the reel body 10 will be enlarged by the enlargement of the diameters of the tubular pinion shaft and the pinion 6. Also, in order to maintain the constant transmission ratio of the drive gear 3 and the pinion 6, the size of the drive gear 3 must be further enlarged, which is another problem.
Also, because the length of the worm 4a has to be shortened, the stroke of the spool 8 is shortened, thereby reducing the length of the winding portion 8d of the spool. In order to wind the equal quantity of the fishing line, the outer diameter of the spool 8 has to be enlarged, and the spool having the large outer diameter increases the casting resistance.
Even if the impact load is applied in the direction of an arrow X shown in FIG. 2C, the impact load is transferred directly to the worm gear 4a or the cam portion of the pawl 5a, resulting in its deformation. The deformation will cause the cam to operate improperly or not operate at all. This drawback is severe than the spinning reel shown in FIG. 1A.
With the above reasons, the spinning reel shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D has not been commercialized as much as the spinning reel shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B in which the worm shaft is separated.
In order to solve the above problems, the inventor filed a Korean patent application for the invention entitled "LONG STROKE SPINNING REEL" on Jun. 23, 1995, Application No. 95-16986, in which the spool rotates and reciprocates during the cast and the spool shaft is formed integral with the traverse grooves.
As can be seen in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the above long stroke spinning reel is rotatably supported with the tube-shaped pinion shaft which is journaled on a bearing 37 and consists of a pinion 36 and a shank portion 36a. When a spool 38 moves backwardly, the pinion shaft is inserted into the shank guiding portion 38b of the spool 38. With the shank portion 36a of the pinion shaft protruding in the forward of the rotor 31, as shown by arrows B and C.
A spool shaft 34 is slidably inserted to the inside of the pinion shaft and is formed at its front with a D-shaped key 34b and a lock-pin groove 34C. By a locking pin 8c which is inserted from the front of the spool shaft 34 and abuts against the shoulder 34d of the locking pin to prevent from departing, the spool 38 is detachably inserted into the front of the spool shaft 34. In order to provide the spool 38 with means for damping the forward impact load, the front of the spool shaft inserting opening is formed with an enlarged spring receiving hole 38e, and a washer 42 and a spool holder 38c which are connected by the key 34b are inserted into the spring receiving hole 38e, with a compressing spring 41 interposed between the washer and the spool holder.
The spool holder 38c is fixed to the spring receiving hole 38e of the spool by a 43, with the washer 42 abutting against the shoulder of the back end of the spring receiving hole 38e and the spring 41 compressing properly. Also, when the spool 38 is mounted, in order to closely contact the locking pin 8c with the lock-pin shoulder 34d, in which the pin 8c is supported on the front of the spool 38, the spring 41 is slightly compressed by the washer 42 and the back shoulder of the key 34b, and the lock-pin groove 34 is extended backwardly longer than the diameter of the locking pin 8c.
Also, the spool shaft 34 and the tubular portion of the pinion shaft 36a consist of a double stage to enlarge only the diameter of the worm gear 34a for increasing its strength.
In addition, the pawl 35 penetrates the pawl inserting hole 36c formed on the shank portion of the pinion shaft and meshes with the worm gear 34a at the cam portion of the front end. The back end of the pawl 35 is backwardly extended from the pawl inserting hole 36c formed on the shank portion 36a of the pinion shaft, as shown by an arrow D, and is supported on the extended inner wall through the pawl holder 35a, as shown by an arrow A.
With the long stroke spinning reel consisting of the construction described above, when the fishing line is released, the fishing line can be paid out without snarling or entangling or without suffering from the casting resistance, because the spool rotates and reciprocates. And, the reel has other advantages of the longer casting distance, higher strength and impact resistance, and smaller assembling processes.
However, because the spool shaft is formed with the traverse groove and its strength is deteriorated, even if the spool shaft has a damping device, the spool shaft can be deformed or destroyed by the exterior impact load. This causes the traverse cam to operate improperly. In addition, because the diameter of the traverse groove is restricted by the construction of the pinion consisting of double-stage shaft, the handle has to be rotated at a faster spinning rate against the same reducing ratio to wind the long length of fishing line.